Machine Gun Kelly has revived his long-simmering feud with Conor McGregor, taking a pointed social media shot at the UFC star after his injury loss at UFC 329.
The rapper’s jab loops directly back to their infamous 2021 MTV Video Music Awards red carpet run-in, turning McGregor’s physical setback into fresh ammunition.
McGregor lost by first-round stoppage to Max Holloway at UFC 329 after his knee gave out, an ending that sparked wide discussion of a serious injury.
Kelly pounced on that footage, mocking McGregor’s “weak knees” and framing the outing as a disastrous return to the Octagon.
knees weak of old age the real conor can’t stand up 🤡
The centerpiece of the trolling was a line of wordplay riffing on McGregor himself: Machine Gun Kelly’s own social media (Instagram Reel/post) pushed the phrase “Real Conor can’t stand up.”
That flips McGregor’s old boast about only fighting “real fighters” back onto him while pairing it with the image of his compromised leg.
The 2021 VMA Origin Story
The bad blood traces to September 12, 2021, when the two clashed on the VMA red carpet at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. McGregor was recorded lunging toward Kelly and throwing a drink before security and Megan Fox stepped in to separate them.
McGregor downplayed the incident afterward. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, he delivered the line that has defined the feud ever since.
I only fight real fighters. People that actually fight. I certainly don’t fight little Vanilla Ice white rappers. I don’t even know the guy, don’t know anything about him except that he’s with Megan Fox,” McGregor said.
McGregor’s stance appeared to thaw later. In a street interview on Adam Glyn’s “Adam’s Apple,” he seemed to defuse things, saying he had no real problem with Kelly.
It’s not like I have any problem with him. I’m actually gonna invite him to my next fight. I think he’s a great artist,” McGregor said at the time.
A One-Sided Revival
Kelly’s UFC 329 comments have drawn backlash from fans who view mocking an injured fighter as poor form, a reaction the rapper has brushed aside.
I don’t regret anything I said about his knees. If you step in there, you sign up for whatever comes after,” Kelly said.
For now, the exchange runs one direction. McGregor has not issued a detailed reply to the latest jabs, leaving the situation as social media trolling rather than a two-way escalation.
The tension is not new for Kelly, who has drawn combat sports figures into his orbit before, including a public back-and-forth with Sean Strickland over the rapper’s “big bro advice”.
Whether McGregor takes the bait remains to be seen. The former two-division champion has plenty of history closing chapters on his own terms, but rivals from Dustin Poirier down have learned the McGregor storylines rarely stay quiet for long.
